Alba 1-30-2022
NO CONDEMNATION TO THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST
Romans 8:1-11
In March 1992, a man living near Boston, Massachusetts received a bill for his unused credit card. The bill stated that he owed $0.00. He ignored it and threw it away.
In April he received another bill and threw that one away, too. In May the credit card company sent him a very nasty note. It said they were going to cancel his card if he didn't send them $0.00.
He called and talked to them. They said it was a computer error and told him they'd take care of it. The following month he decided to try out the credit card figuring that if there were purchases on his account it would put an end to his ridiculous predicament.
However, in the first store he tried to use his credit card he found that his card had been canceled. He called the credit card company. They apologized for the computer error once again and said that they would take care of it.
The next day he got a bill for $0.00 stating that payment was now overdue. Assuming that the latest bill was yet another mistake, he ignored it, believing the company would sort the problem out.
The next month he got a bill for $0.00 stating that he had 10 days to pay his account or the company would have to take steps to recover the debt. Finally giving in, he mailed them a check for $0.00.
The company processed his account. They returned a statement stating that he now owed the credit card company nothing at all.
A week later, the man's bank called him asking him what he was doing writing a check for $0.00. After a lengthy explanation, the bank replied that the $0.00 check had caused their check processing software to fail.
The bank could not now process ANY checks from ANY of their customers that day because the check for $0.00 was causing the computer to crash.
The following month the man received a letter from the credit card company claiming that his check had bounced and that he now owed them $0.00. Unless he sent a check they would be taking steps to recover the debt.
The man was going to buy his wife a computer for her birthday. Instead, he bought her a typewriter.
The point here is that there is a debt that we owe because of our sin. And no matter how hard we try, we can't pay it. For us the amount is not zero. It is more than we can imagine.
Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death". Condemned to death because of our sin! How can we escape that condemnation? The answer is found in our text, Romans chapter eight.
Turn to Romans 8:11.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
How wonderful it is to hear those words, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. No Condemnation! But there are some conditions. First there is...
1. The Requirement
The word “condemnation” is a theological word that occurs nowhere else but in Romans. Condemnation means we stand guilty and under God’s judgment for violating God’s law.
The Bible teaches that every human being will be brought before the judgment throne of God for an ultimate and decisive judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10), and Jesus Himself will be the judge (John 5:27).
All unbelievers are under the condemnation of God: “He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18b)
But Christians will not be found guilty on Judgment Day because the first part of the verse in John 3:18 says, “He who believes in Him is not condemned.”
Believe in Whom? In Christ. The requirement to be included with those who are not under condemnation is: one must be “in Christ.”
There is no guilty verdict against those who are in Christ. This is the Good News of the gospel. Why is God’s verdict over Christians so favorable? Because at the cross Jesus took our sin and paid its penalty for us.
A great exchange occurred in which our sin was placed on Him, and His righteousness is deposited to our account (for all who come to Him in obedient faith).
God cannot forgive outside of what Christ did on the cross. It would contradict His nature if He did. The forgiveness of God is based upon the perfect sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That made available for each of us to, by choice, accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, who is our sacrifice for sins. It cannot be achieved any other way. It is supernatural.
We are all God’s creation, but we are not all His children. In order to become a child of God you need to be born-again.
When the people who were there when Jesus was crucified came under conviction for their sins, Peter gave them the same answer that needs to be given to people today.
Peter said to them,“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The requirement for no condemnation is that we be “in Christ”. And when we are, the Holy Spirit indwells us. It is...
2. The Rule of Law
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death—are two opposite laws or principles. Both are laws, but one is better. One weighs us down, the other changes everything.
A Boeing 747 weighs about 400 tons on takeoff. How does that much metal get into the air when the law of gravity will pull a feather to the ground? The answer is another law: the law of aerodynamics.
The engineers who designed that jumbo jet accept the fact that there is a law of gravity. They do not focus on the law of gravity. It’s there and its influence is to pull things down. Instead they focus on the law of aerodynamics.
They make a design to get enough lift to make the plane fly. In that 747, the law of aerodynamics sets us free from the law of gravity.
Verse two of our text says that: “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
So here is the key to breaking out of an addiction, here is the key to godly living: get our focus off the sin; get our focus off the law of sin and death; turn our attention to the law of the Spirit of life.
Only a person converted, changed and controlled by the Spirit can please God because He “dwells in” us. 1 Corinthians 3:16 states “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
It is this Spirit within us that makes Christians different. When we are in Christ, and Christ in us, we act differently. We talk differently. We see the world from a different viewpoint. We have different priorities and goals.
Those without the Holy Spirit have their mind set on things the sinful nature desires, on things that can only destroy us in the end, on things that don't please God.
But those who have the Holy Spirit have their mind set on the things of the Spirit, on things that bring life and peace, on things that DO please God.
As Christians, we can rejoice in that we ARE different from the world. We have something within us noticeably different that the world tries to copy, but fall short.
We have a hope that no one can ever take away from us. We have a peace and a knowledge of an eternal life. We know death is not the end, but a renewed beginning.
Most importantly, we are certain that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
The rule of law is that we are either bound by the law of sin and death or the law of the Spirit.
What a wonderful gift Jesus Christ has given us in His Spirit. When we choose to receive Him, we are no longer trapped and condemned. We can fly. Gravity can't hold us down.
We are free to live and be all that God intended for us to be, people who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
When we come to Christ, we get all of the Spirit of God, not just some of Him. There may be a time subsequent to salvation in which the Spirit of God gets more of us, but there is never a time when we get more of Him.
So if we want to become a better person, more like Jesus Christ, then we need to live our life in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, not on ourselves.
If we want no condemnation, the requirement is that we be in Christ, and under the rule of His Holy Spirit. So we see the requirement, the rule, and now...
3. The Reason – Why is it possible to have no condemnation?
The answer to that is found in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
That is why Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
This is a pretty simple statement, but it means so very much. Lets look first at what it doesn't say.
It doesn't say no condemnation only for those who don't sin, does it? It doesn't say no condemnation only for those who live perfect lives. It doesn't say no condemnation only for those who have not failed?
God is not saying that there is no cause for condemnation. That certainly wouldn’t be true for any of us because we all sin, make mistakes, and fall short of God’s perfect design for us.
God has provided for all of mankind the opportunity for redemption. He then makes it personal and looks at each one of us and desires to draw us to Himself.
But there is one condition that must be met.... “to them who are in Christ Jesus.” Through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross, God achieved our deliverance by condemning sin in the flesh.
I Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”
We live in an age that believes there are no absolutes. But there is one for sure absolute truth with God. He loves us!
God is not an angry Father waiting to have His anger against us appeased by the sacrificial intervention of a loving Son. Instead, God the Father acts on behalf of sinful mankind by sending His Son.
In His death on the Cross, Jesus bore the full fury of sin’s devastating power. That means God will NEVER punish anyone who is in Christ for his or her sins, because Jesus has already taken the punishment for their sins.
Yes indeed, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
CONCLUSION:
Two former college friends met after years of separation. One suggested that they have dinner together. During a meal, they talked about memories of their college days.
As they talked, the hours passed by. Looking at his watch, one exclaimed, “Why, it is near midnight!” They parted and hurried to their homes.
Later, the friends met again. One man told how his wife reacted when he walked into the house late. “I did my best to explain to my wife why I was late, but she only became historical!”
The other man replied, “You mean hysterical, don’t you?” “Oh, no, I mean historical. She brought up all my past sins and failures!”
Satan is delighted when we commit sin. He points out our mistakes to God. Satan loves to accuse us of being sinful people. So when Satan tries to bring up your sins and tries to convince you that you have a debt to pay, just ignore his statements.
When the Lord forgives us of our sin, He never brings it up again!
The blood of Jesus makes it possible for us to have a debt of $0.00!
If we constantly think God is holding a grudge against us or constantly trying to punish us for something we did long ago, then we will never get past our past!
By the way, a good way to defeat the past is to dedicate your present to Jesus.
